


Smitten

by peachesandgravy (cheriper)



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Cinderella Elements, Coffee Shops, Domestic Fluff, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/M, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26659321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheriper/pseuds/peachesandgravy
Summary: Infamous Hunt-writer Kang Younghyun has a secret: He has zero game when it comes to girls. It’s a secret because there’s nothing funnier than the contrast between dorky Younghyun as casanova Young K.
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K/Original Character(s), Kang Younghyun | Young K/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 8





	1. Kang Younghyun's Secret

**Chapter 1**

_ Kang Younghyun’s Secret _

Kang Younghyun loved people-watching.

With his ice Americano on the table, his laptop open in front of him, he could pretend he was being productive. But really, he was just watching people get by with their lives, oblivious to one bored Kang Younghyun looking for entertainment.

Maybe that was also the reason why he could write as well as he could. This may sound like he’s aggrandizing himself, but really. His claim-to-fame, the risque movie  _ Hunt _ , earned him several awards. Too many awards, to be honest, for a debut film. He was happy to give the credit to his friend Terry He for the wonderful direction. Without Terry, the movie wouldn’t have been half as brilliant as it did.

But you know what the thing about peaking with your first work? It built pressure and expectation from people around you. Now the Screen Actors Guild was on his ass for a new and better script.

How did you top, as the Seoul Times put it, a Cultural Reset in Film?

So now he was in a bit of a conundrum.

His blank screen mocked him. His iced Americano now a tepid reminder of his writer’s block. And what’s worse, the cafe he loved to frequent was horribly empty of interesting people.

See, this was why he loved people watching. People always had interesting stories to tell. The other day, there was a couple who had been in the middle of a fight. Yes, in a cafe. Didn’t they know there are people around ready to share with the world the minute details of why Kevin was such an asshole for leaving Jenny at his ex’s place? There had been a catfight. An honest-to-God catfight!

That’s another thing that Kang Younghyun loved - drama. He loved drama. More than anything. He loved watching dramas - whether it’s your cheesy primetime Korean drama or the pseudo-intellectual Western ones. Even better, dramas in real life. It’s the reason why he loved people watching so much. The most interesting stories are the most dramatic ones found in the most mundane places. 

And you’d be surprised at how often they happen in the ordinary lives of ordinary people.  
  


Younghyun could remember clearly the day he wrote Hunt. He wasn’t a religious person, not like his friend from LA Jae, but he believed in the presence of a higher power. For him, everything happened for a reason. There was some great outline written out there and we all followed it unknowingly. That day, as he stepped out of his apartment in Gangnam, he felt a buzz in the air. A thrill. It was sunny out, gorgeous even. But the small hair on his arms all stood up, charged. Like the earth was anticipating the coming of a storm.

His senses were all on alert as he walked down his street. On his subway ride. When he got off the station. He kept anticipating something. Anything. And when he got into the front stoop of THAT coffee shop - yes, that’s the name of his favorite coffee shop - he had to pause.

Maybe he was overthinking this. Maybe, his cholesterol level just went up after a night out with his boys grilling meat and drinking alcohol they didn’t have any right to drink at their ripe old age of almost-thirty. Yes, it must be his cholesterol or blood sugar. Something medical. He just needed to counteract it with his favorite iced Americano and everything would be back to normal.

So there he went. He ordered his usual - coffee and chocolate croissant - from the young part-timer. His usual seat was the one near the floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the outside of the cafe. That way, he had an unobstructed view of the outside and still saw everything the inside could offer. 

THAT coffee shop wasn’t too big. Just about the size of a regular Starbucks cafe but without the polish of a corporate franchise. The interior was painted in this off-white slightly-pink color, the quintessential millennial pink, with touches of gold here and there. It was cute. And cozy. And the best dramas happen here.

Case in point: the chimes above the door rang loudly as a literal storm of a young woman came in a flurry. Her auburn hair danced in the wind, its waves beckoning his fingers to sift through them. It looked so soft and yet so wild. Younghyun was smitten by someone’s fucking hair.

He really needed to get laid, was what he thought right before the lady went out of his peripheral vision.

He didn’t know where she sat. His back was to the rest of the cafe, but he knew she was there where he couldn’t see her. It sounded like she was there to meet up with a friend by the scraping sound of a chair being pulled up and the chatter of young women starting small talk.

“So, tell me all about it.” Younghyun heard a sly tone begin.

“Well… you were right. The island experience was just wild,” Giggles. He perked up at this.

Island experience? Wild? Younghyun’s drama radar was pinging off like crazy.

He straightened on his seat, pulled his laptop closer and woke his system up. This was good shit, he thought.

“Right? It was so worth the money, right?” The first voice teased. Okay, he’ll have to name them to make this easier for his writing later. She sounded like a Jessie, someone who had a great sense of adventure. It seemed like she was the one who gave the second lady the idea to go to this expensive and wild island adventure.

“I mean, it was still too expensive--”

“But fun, right?” 

“--Well, yeah.” More giggles. He’d call Island Girl Vanessa. She sounded like she needed the push, but was always down for a good time.

When would they get to the fun part?

“Okay, so it started like this…”

And thus, Hunt was born. It was out of a stranger’s story. He stayed at his seat, writing down what he could glean until the two women called it a day (at 11:30 am, but Vanessa had a wild one week at Koh Samui, so he’d let his judgments slide.) He polished a working outline before he hailed a cab and drove back to his flat where he burned straight through an introduction to ending in three days straight.

He had missed a fairly important gig which Sungjin never let him forget, but he was forgiven. Especially after the suspiciously smooth pitching, pre-production, filming and editing process of his first-ever feature film.

At the release of the film, he was just known as Kang Younghyun, bassist of the popular indie band Day6. After the first week, he was Kang Youngyun, Seoul’s very own casanova. Everyone assumed Hunt, which one critic called the second coming of Fifty Shades of Grey, was a product of Younghyun’s wild nights.

(Younghyun could still remember reading that review. They were in a noraebang after Wonpil cried how they don’t sing for fun anymore. There was a day old newspaper haphazardly strewn on the table loaded with beer and snacks. He really appreciated the critic’s pun. Second coming of Fifty Shades. Second coming. He snorted a beer straight out his nose at how funny that was. Of course, Dowoon died laughing.)

  
  


Timid, shy cafe owner Audrey Song has a secret: beneath the pastel color exterior, there was something edgy and exciting truth she held close to her heart. Famous softcore movie Hunt was based on her story. Did she know definitively? No. But she was still 300% sure it was about her one week stint at Koh Samui last year.

But the thing is, as much as her secret excited her, she couldn’t very well broadcast and start a gossip fire about it. For one, she had a reputation to keep. Her cafe, THAT coffee shop, was still a baby start-up project on top of managing all her father’s food ventures. There was his gourmet, experimental restaurant at a hotel in Gangnam, and another international franchise of another chef’s equally famous restaurant.

Audrey didn’t care one bit about them. All that mattered to her was her pride and joy, her comfort and solace, THAT coffee shop.

Right now, she was a mess at juggling all her workload on top of the pressure of wanting to finish a strong second year for THAT coffee shop, which didn’t look any easier than it did last year. Her pastry chef was showing signs of dissatisfaction. From what, Audrey had no idea, but it was starting to get on her nerves.

For two, Audrey’s father, THE Chef Allan Song, expected her to do well. Coffee shops are not really exciting enough of a business venture for the Michelin-starred chef. Why didn’t Audrey try an authentic sushi shop complete with the whole experience? Or a fusion restaurant? There MUST be something exciting Audrey could do. After all, her father was known for his experimental dishes throughout the food industry.

Well, her father needed to learn that the world did not revolve around THE Chef Allan Song. (The ‘THE’ was always capped. A valet at Le Meridien made the mistake one time and it cost him his job.)

She doubted having an infamous reputation was not what her father had in mind when he said, “We need to build a food empire - a SONG FOOD EMPIRE!”

So on her life went. Wake up, fix herself a simple breakfast, go to the cafe, close the cafe, eat dinner, sleep, repeat. Exciting, right?

Koh Samui felt like a wild, steamy dream she thought up in comparison to her life these days. She particularly loved the crazy auburn hair she had then. It was truly a memorable phase.

Letting out a sigh, she went back to crunching numbers in front of her. These books are not gonna reconcile themselves.

She heard the chimes on the front door ring just at the same time as the kitchen swivel door flew open. Camilla, her pastry chef, stomped towards her before throwing her white cap on Audrey’s feet. “I quit!”

“What? Just like that?” Audrey asked, confused.

“Yes, just like that,” Camilla spat. “Don’t even pretend that you didn’t know this was gonna happen. You know,” the pastry chef said as she stepped closer to Audrey. “We had a deal that you’d help me get closer to an apprenticeship with your father.”

“I know, and I swear, I’m working on it--”

“But you’ve done nothing at all, Audrey! Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.” At that point, Camilla grabbed Audrey by the collar of her shirt. “You’re sabotaging my future!”

Before things could even escalate further, a hand shot out between them and separated them. “Ladies, I think we need to cool down before you scare all the customers away,” a familiar baritone voice said.

Audrey’s surprised gaze shot towards the man. She’d know that voice anywhere. 

Kang Younghyun. Class of 2017. Business Management. A classmate in her Literature class. Campus heartthrob.

Her college happy crush.

Audrey felt her face burn - with shame, embarrassment, and the familiar butterflies on her stomach whenever she saw Younghyun.

“Younghyun…” she whispered unconsciously.

Younghyun, on the other hand, took a second look at her. He probably wouldn’t remember her. 

But she would always remember him arriving late and sweaty for that one blessed session. He came from band practice, he said as he settled on the seat beside her. That was the first time he chose that seat. He forgot to read the required reading for that day and their professor, of course, called his name for recitation. She would always remember scribbling the answer furiously on her reading, sliding it towards him before tapping him on his arm by the back of her hand.

He was perfect and wouldn’t remember her, for sure.

“Audrey Song?” Younghyun asked in disbelief.


	2. Kang Younghyun's Cinderella Story

**Chapter 2**

_Kang Younghyun’s Cinderella Story_

  
  


“Audrey Song?” Younghyun asked in disbelief.

Younghyun didn’t remember many people from college. Between their band practices, near-constant gigs, and his own heavy academic workload, he had very little time to make meaningful friendships. He remembered Audrey from that one disastrous Literature class. He shouldn’t have listened to Sungjin when he recommended that Younghyun take that class.

Easy A, his ass.

“How are you?” He asked, forgetting about the small cat fight he just stopped. Audrey smiled at him a little painfully, before her eyes shot to the person behind him. Oh, right. There was still a fight on-going.

“Who the heck are you?” The fuming chef asked before pushing Younghyun. Caught off-guard, he almost fell on Audrey if he didn’t catch himself at the nick of time by landing his hands on the table behind her. Essentially, she was caged by his arms. Audrey shut her eyes, thinking Younghyun would fall on her.

For the briefest moment, Kang Younghyun had the closest view of Audrey Song and his only thought was, ‘She had the most beautiful and longest lashes he had ever seen on anyone.’

Whirling around, he took out his embarrassment and anger at the chef. “You didn’t have to resort to hurting her physically.”

“Shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about. This bitch here promised me an internship with her hotshot father, but look at where I still am a year after our deal.” She spat. “Fine, whatever. Good luck trying to take this business off the ground, loser.” The chef said before she turned on her heels and left the coffee shop.

And yes, she really slammed the door out as hard as she could.

Younghyun thrived on drama, yes. But he didn’t enjoy being dragged into it. Call him a sore loser for being that way.

He turned his attention back to his former classmate. His eyes roamed over her figure, trying to check for any sign of pain. “Are you alright?”

“Yup. Just super embarrassed you had to witness that--” She waved her hand, gesturing to the space the chef had occupied before.

“Don’t worry about it. So, I’m guessing you own this place?” He asked as he moved a respectable distance away from her.

She let out a nervous giggle. If she didn’t cover her embarrassment and the mix of confusing negative emotions she was feeling at the moment, she would cry. Like, ugly cry in front of her college happy crush whom she didn’t see for years.

And it wouldn’t be cute and pretty at all.

“Yup.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, wow. It’s a pleasant surprise to see you here.”

“Yeah, I’ve been here once or twice before, and it’s increasingly becoming my new favorite cafe.” He smiled at her. “Didn’t know you’d be an entrepreneur, Audrey.”

He seriously should stop smiling at her because it was making Audrey feel a swarm of butterflies in her stomach. It was seriously messing up with her brain cells. “Yeah, I didn’t either. I was an Industrial Engineering major, before. Did you know that?”

He blinked slowly. “Why were you taking the class…?”

“Literature? I needed some Humanities units.”

“Oh. I mean, that was my case, too. I was a Business major, did you know?”

“Younghyun, I hate to break this to you,” Audrey began solemnly. “But every female in Donguk knew.”

Younghyun belted out a full-body laugh, which caught Audrey by surprise. And fascination. Really, if you’ve ever seen Younghyun laughing for something you’d said, you’d been blessed. Audrey can die peacefully now knowing she had done one good deed on this earth and that was making Kang Younghyun genuinely laugh at her joke.

“I don’t remember you being this funny before.” He said after he caught his breath. “You mind if I invite you over to my table. Or well, technically, it’s yours since you own this cafe.”

“Sure, no worries. Let’s go. You mentioned you’ve been here before?”

They reached his table and he took a quick peek at his system. The blank document was still there, waiting for him. “Yup. You’ll never believe this, but I think your cafe is my charm. I wrote my first script here and it just-- PSSHH--” He blew raspberries as his hands waved around. “Sold out like crazy.”

“Really? You didn’t get into business after grad?”

“Well, show business. My day job is creating content for Virtue Media. Did you know about them?”

She nodded at this.

“Yeah. And then, I still play with my bandmates at night. I had this lucky streak last year with Hunt and--”

“I’m sorry, did you say Hunt? Like the-- the--”

“Yes, that Hunt.” Younghyun deadpanned. Don’t get him wrong. He owed a lot of things to Hunt. Sometimes, it felt like his creation had taken a life on its own apart from him that he couldn’t even begin to control, or even wrap his mind into. The film, the notoriety, and following just snowballed into a creature Younghyun couldn’t even recognize anymore. It came out of his mind and hands but some days, it was an old friend he couldn’t recognize anymore.

He noticed Audrey had visibly stiffened at his declaration. So, she’s one of them, huh? Those critics who thought Hunt was dirty and cheap. That it didn’t have any place in the modern, feminist world.

“I’m sorry you didn’t like it.” He apologized.

“No! No, it’s not that at all. I… uhm. It’s not that I didn’t like it.” Audrey began. “But it’s… wow. You wrote that thing?” Her voice was full of disbelief.

“Uhm yeah.”

“I take it it wasn’t from your experiences?” Audrey suggested at which Younghyun gasped. 

“How did you know? You’re the first one to ever, EVER, guess the truth!” He said, brightening up in a way that Audrey had to physically try to calm herself from reacting at Younghyun’s beatific smile.

  
  
  


Audrey didn’t know how to explain how she knew this fact to Younghyun without giving away her truth. ‘I know because I know it’s MY story. And how painfully accurate you told it on the silver screen is terrifying and invasive, but more than that I want to know — how did you know my story?’

She swallowed everything she wanted to say and instead, she said, “Uhm. It just didn’t seem to be like you? If you were still the same person as you were in college, you’d still have your schedule packed with all your gigs and band practices. I mean, I heard through the grapevine that your band is still active?”

“Oh, you follow our band?” That was not what Audrey thought he’d say. And that’s bad, because she didn’t want to appear as if she were his fangirl. She was, but he didn’t need to know that. Especially since he saved her today.

“Like I said, I just hear news about you. Many of my friends from college were huge fans of you. I mean, your band!” She quickly backtracked.

Younghyun smirked. “I wouldn’t complain if you admitted to being a fan of ours. Truth be told, I’d be flattered having a pretty lady like Audrey Song as our fan would do wonders on my already-bruised ego right now.”

A smirking Younghyun. How could Audrey’s heart survive this encounter?

Trying to keep her palpitations at bay, Audrey replied, “And what made your ego bruised? From what I heard, Hunt did really well in cinemas.”

Younghyun’s smirk fell at this. “Yeah, well…” He scratched the back of his head as he mulled over his next words. “That’s exactly my problem.”

Audrey raised an eyebrow at him, wordlessly asking him to continue.

“I wrote Hunt here, did you know that? Of course not. No one knows. Not even Sungjin, or Pil, or Dowoon. Not my bandmates, who God knows are the closest thing to brothers that I have.”

“I imagine having siblings doesn’t mean you share every experience or thought with them,” said Audrey.

“Well, that’s true. But. You have to know how deeply connected we are to one another. We went through life together. Literally. We’re family, Audrey,” he said. 

The way Younghyun loved and worshipped his bandmates was a foreign concept to Audrey. She filed this thought in her head to mull over, dissect, analyze tonight, or whenever she was emotionally able to process things like functional family. 

“And they didn’t know that I ripped Hunt off from a person,” he continued. “Here. In this very cafe, Audrey.”

She didn’t know what she expected this moment to be. To get the confession out of the person behind Hunt. To find that it was Younghyun. And getting the truth in its rawest form. _I ripped Hunt off from a person._

God. She needed to process this.

“That’s why I’m also here. I mean, not just today. I’ve been a regular patron of your cafe even before Hunt, but I had to be here. It’s not just your cafe, Audrey. That day, this girl came in and I swear, my whole world changed. It was literally through her that I wrote Hunt. It was her story. And… this will sound crazy, Audrey, but… I think she’s my muse. And I need to find her.”

He paused.

“Audrey, what if… I help you help your coffee shop take off the ground. Free publicity and all. I’ll even help you find a chef. But…”

Audrey had never felt so nervous in her entire life. “But?”

“Will you help me find my muse?”

Scratch that. Audrey didn’t need to process anything. 

She needed a drink.


	3. Kang Younghyun's Family

**Chapter 3**

_ Kang Younghyun’s Family _

  
  


There are many things Kang Younghyun wished to understand in the world: Yoon Dowoon’s mind, Park Sungjin’s meticulous system on choosing where to eat, Kim Wonpil’s thought process when he bought that hideous pink knit sweater, Park Jaehyung’s sudden disappearance.

A lot of this, he realized, involved his bandmates. His family, as he said with Audrey.

But now, his list had gotten longer: Audrey Song’s secret.

He was fairly sure she was hiding something from him. After his big reveal of the truth behind Hunt, Audrey had noticeably distanced herself from the conversation. It wasn’t like he was positioning himself as someone Audrey shouldn’t hide things from. No. Not at all. It wasn’t like he was her boyfriend.

Younghyun stopped at the thought.

Boyfriend. Audrey Song’s boyfriend.

He could still remember that one terrible day in college. It was Engineering Week and the band was invited to perform. Back then, they took every offer and played even back to back performances. They didn’t know until when they would be able to play. The future looked so uncertain to their young, amateur eyes. So they took everything. Rubbed elbows and drank all offered shots just for the odd chance of getting invited again.

All their hard work had paid off, though. But they wouldn’t know it then.

So college junior Kang Younghyun had already maxed out his absences for his English Literature class and had to drag his still-drunk ass to class. He didn’t even know if he brought the right readings with him. He just remembered stuffing a bunch of paper into his bag and ran to his classroom.

He was late, of course. The only available spot was beside his crush on that class, Audrey Song. She had this amazing eyes that would always look bright and focused. She would always sit at the back of the room, but she would always raise her hand for recitation so it didn’t matter where she sat. And when she shared her opinions, the whole class hung on her word. She was smart, pretty and would never pay Younghyun a minute of her attention.

That day, all absent students of the class must have maxed out their absences just like Younghyun. Which was why all seats were taken, except the one beside hers. He took a quick glance at her, murmuring his apologies for arriving late and sweaty. The moment he sat his ass down, the professor called on his name. Of course, she did.

It was the best way to find out that he brought Wonpil’s organic chemistry notes to his Survey of English Literature class. He couldn’t very well answer his professor’s question on what the punishment for the Lustful sinners in Dante’s Inferno was with the structure of benzenehexol.

He had already accepted his death and the sure F when Audrey gently tapped his arm and slid her notes towards him. She scribbled the answer for him and for that, he would forever be grateful he took that English class.

Not because he eventually pulled his scores up and landed a decent B on that class. Not because Sungjin recommended the class to complete Younghyun’s Humanities units.

But because he had the fortune of meeting Audrey Song and in one blessed moment, they had an interaction.

Did that make Younghyun a huge dork? Yes. Dowoon and Wonpil wouldn’t even let him live the moment down when he spazzed about that interaction with them.

But what the heck. It was the closest interaction he ever had with a girl he liked.

“Younghyun, stop your daydreaming! Help us find Jaehyung’s flight number,” Sungjin called and complained as he tried to haul Jaehyung’s suitcases off Sungjin’s car. 

Beside Younghyun, Wonpil released a defeated sigh. “Are we sure that his flight lands today?"

“I’m sure of it!” Dowoon exclaimed around the cone of ice cream he was currently devouring. He had been complaining about the heat on their way to the airport. Just to shut him up, Sungjin offered to buy a cone for him when they got to the airport.

Sungjin, meanwhile, looked at Dowoon with disgust before handing him a tissue. “How are you a professor? Honestly?”

Dowoon smiled as he wiped his face. “Don’t worry, Sungjin. I’m very neat and tidy whenever needed.”

“We need it today. Every day. Every hour.” Wonpil deadpanned beside them.

Younghyun moved closer to the board. Just then, the airport’s PA system blared and notified them of a plane coming in from LAX had just arrived.

“Okay. Like I told you earlier, don’t harass Jaehyung on his reason why he left. He will tell us when he’s ready. Don’t be all up on his face,” Sungjin said as he looked pointedly at Dowoon and Wonpil, the affection monsters. The two youngest had the audacity to pout and began to complain.

Younghyun’s boys, his brothers, had always been together. Quite recently though, Park Jaehyung decided to up and leave without telling them any reason why. Younghyun had a feeling Sungjin knew why, but there’s nothing more secure and more tightly vaulted than Park Sungjin. These Park bros knew how to keep each other’s back safe.

Sometime, Younghyun would envy that. To have someone who would unconditionally have your back. Don’t get him wrong, he knew each one of them would die for any one of them. He was thankful for Dowoon’s affection and Wonpil’s optimism. Jaehyung offered the quiet but constant kind of friendship and Sungjin would always be home for them. But unlike them, Younghyun didn’t quite exist in pairs within the group. Maybe it was the middle child in him that was feeling the pain, or maybe it was the loneliness from having no special person around to call his or him his.

Sometimes, loneliness can be unbearable, too.

Before Younghyun could fall deeper into his melancholy, Dowoon perked up like the little puppy he was on the inside. Their youngest had already seen Jaehyung’s dirty blonde mop of hair towering over the blacks and brunettes coming out of the arrival gate.

“Ah, Jaehyuuuuung!” Dowoon loudly exclaimed. How he was a university professor still beat him. It seemed only yesterday that he was that crying, little middle schooler who wanted to play band with them and that stoic, chip-on-his-shoulder high schooler.

Jaehyung, for his part, looked startled to see the whole band waiting for him. Huh? That was… interesting, to quote him. Why would Jaehyung be surprised to see them? He shouldn’t be. Receiving their members who just got back into the country was their unspoken thing.

Dowoon ran towards Jae, his arms glomped down on their oldest member before Jaehyung playfully pushed him aside, only to be glomped by Wonpil in return. To be honest, how are these boys in their mid-twenties…

Sungjin offered Jae a one-sided hug before whispering in the taller guy’s ear. Probably a welcome. Jae lowered his heavily tinted sunglasses to offer Sungjin a look which Younghyun didn’t know how to read.

Finally, it was his turn to welcome Jaehyung. “Welcome back, Jaehyung.”

Jae took his time to shift his gaze from Sungjin to Younghyun. But when Younghyun had Jae’s eyes on him - finally, after so long - the older man smiled. Sincerely. There was nothing like Park Jaehyung’s smile. Not even the warmest rays of the sun in the height of summer. “It’s good to be home again, Younghyun.”

  
  
  


Wonpil was in charge of finding new accommodations for Jae. For someone who quickly left Korea, Jaehyung had the foresight to end his lease on his apartment before packing his bags. But how quickly he left was also how quickly he came back. As if he were all doing this on a whim.

So days before his supposed return, Sungjin tasked Wonpil to find him a good place, one that is conveniently near all of them, if that was possible. It wasn’t too difficult to do. Wonpil and Dowoon lived near each other as they both taught in the university during the day. Younghyun and Sungjin lived near each other a good ten minutes away from Wonpil and Dowoon. So finding housing for Jae smack in the middle of their weird triangle wasn’t too difficult.

The only problem was if the loud, moaning noise from his neighbor’s home were any indication, Jaehyung’s new home would be a lot more interesting than his previous one.

As they dropped off the last of his suitcase in his living area, Dowoon had already gone off to familiarize himself with Jaehyung's apartment as if it was his. Sungjin went straight to the kitchen, probably to start stuffing Jae’s fridge with the groceries he had bought that morning.

Wonpil looked at Jae apologetically as the moaning and banging on the other door started to fade. “I’m sorry.”

To their surprise, Jaehyung burst into laughter. “What are you sorry for? That was… interesting.”

“Ah! But Sungjin told me to find you a nice, quiet place to live and that wasn’t a good start for your stay here!”

“I’m sure Jae could find other apartments if he wanted to,” Younghyun said, trying to be helpful.

Jae threw himself on the butter-yellow sofa, which was a nice touch. “Hmmm. I’d be hard-pressed to leave this place, to be honest. I’m not in a good place to keep on packing my things and live like a nomad. I know I just left and came back like that,” he snapped his fingers, “but, honestly, I need to grow my roots in one place. It’s really taking a toll on me all these…” he waved his hands around.

Younghyun looked at Jae before he began, “Jaehyung, I know I’m not in any position to ask but--”

Sungjin cleared his throat from the hallway before narrowing his eyes at Younghyun. “Jaehyung, I’ve stocked up your fridge with food, that should last you for at least three days--”

“So at least a week at how little you eat,” Wonpil butted in, directing this at Jae. Sungjin just glared at him, too.

“So by Wednesday, you should go out and get some groceries. Maybe Dowoon can help you do it. His last class ends early.”

“How did you know my schedule?” Dowoon asked as he popped up beside Sungjin.

“I know all your schedules,” Sungjin answered offhandedly.

Dowoon gaped at him. “What? Are you our stalker?”

“I’m your band leader, what are you talking about?” Sungjin fired back before Dowoon guffawed.

“Hey!” Jaehyung cut in, falling back into old habits. Whenever Sungjin got soft with Dowoon, Jaehyung would always be there to keep him in line. It didn’t happen too often, but the tone was there and it was enough to send everyone spiraling back to their senses, to the elephant in the room.

Why did Jaehyung leave?

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve never written a coffee shop AU before, and I feel that it’s the only thing missing from my prolific (not) fanfiction career.
> 
> Also, I'm posting this now so I could get my ass to update it, maybe.


End file.
